Isaiah 24

1 Behold, the Lord maketh the earth emptie, and hee maketh it waste: hee turneth it vpside downe, and scattereth abrode the inhabitants thereof.

Behold, the Lord is about to lay waste the world, and will make it desolate, and will lay bare the surface of it, and scatter them that dwell therein.

2 And there shalbe like people, like Priest, and like seruaunt, like master, like maide, like mistresse, like bier, like seller, like lender, like borower, like giuer, like taker to vsurie.

And the people shall be as the priest, and the servant as the lord, and the maid as the mistress; the buyer shall be as the seller, the lender as the borrower, and the debtor as his creditor.

3 The earth shalbe cleane emptied, and vtterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this worde.

The earth shall be completely laid waste, and the earth shall be utterly spoiled: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.

4 The earth lamenteth and fadeth away: the world is feeble and decaied: the proude people of the earth are weakened.

The earth mourns, and the world is ruined, the lofty ones of the earth are mourning.

5 The earth also deceiueth, because of the inhabitantes thereof: for they transgressed the lawes: they changed the ordinances, and brake the euerlasting couenant.

And she has sinned by reason of her inhabitants; because they have transgressed the law, and changed the ordinances, [even] the everlasting covenant.

6 Therefore hath the curse deuoured the earth, and the inhabitantes thereof are desolate. Wherefore the inhabitants of the land are burned vp, and fewe men are left.

Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, because the inhabitants thereof have sinned: therefore the dwellers in the earth shall be poor, and few men shall be left.

7 The wine faileth, the vine hath no might: all that were of merie heart, doe mourne.

The wine shall mourn, the vine shall mourn, all the merry-hearted shall sigh.

8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth: the noyse of them that reioyce, endeth: the ioye of the harpe ceaseth.

The mirth of timbrels has ceased, the sound of the harp has ceased.

9 They shall not drinke wine with mirth: strong drinke shall be bitter to them that drinke it.

They are ashamed, they have not drunk wine; strong drink has become bitter to them that drink [it].

10 The citie of vanitie is broken downe: euery house is shut vp, that no man may come in.

All the city has become desolate: one shall shut his house so that none shall enter.

11 There is a crying for wine in the streetes: al ioy is darkened: the mirth of the world is gone away.

There is a howling for the wine everywhere; all the mirth of the land has ceased, all the mirth of the land has departed.

12 In the citie is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

And cities shall be left desolate, and houses being left shall fall to ruin.

13 Surely thus shall it bee in the middes of the earth, among the people, as the shaking of an oliue tree, and as the grapes when the vintage is ended.

All this shall be in the land in the midst of the nations, as if one should strip an olive tree, so shall they strip them; but when the vintage is done,

14 They shall lift vp their voyce: they shall shout for the magnificence of the Lord: they shall reioyce from the sea.

these shall cry aloud; and they that are left on the land shall rejoice together in the glory of the Lord: the water of the sea shall be troubled.

15 Wherefore praise yee the Lord in the valleis, euen the Name of the Lord God of Israel, in the yles of the sea.

Therefore shall the glory of the Lord be in the isles of the sea; the name of the Lord shall be glorious.

16 From the vttermost part of the earth wee haue heard praises, euen glory to the iust, and I sayd, My leanesse, my leanesse, woe is mee: the transgressours haue offended: yea, the transgressours haue grieuously offended.

O Lord God of Israel, from the ends of the earth we have heard wonderful things, [and there is] hope to the godly: but they shall say, Woe to the despisers, that despise the law.

17 Feare, and the pitte, and the snare are vpon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

Fear, and a pit, and a snare, are upon you that dwell on the earth.

18 And hee that fleeth from the noyse of the feare, shall fall into the pit: and he that commeth vp out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the windowes from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth doe shake.

And it shall come to pass, [that] he that flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that comes up out of the pit shall be caught by the snare: for windows have been opened in heaven, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken,

19 The earth is vtterly broken downe: the earth is cleane dissolued: the earth is mooued exceedingly.

the earth shall be utterly confounded, and the earth shall be completely perplexed.

20 The earth shall reele to and from like a drunken man, and shall be remooued like a tent, and the iniquitie thereof shall be heauie vpon it: so that it shall fall, and rise no more.

It reels as a drunkard and one oppressed with wine, and the earth shall be shaken as a storehouse of fruits; for iniquity has prevailed upon it, and it shall fall, and shall not be able to rise.

21 And in that day shall the Lord visite the hoste aboue that is on hie, euen the Kinges of the world that are vpon the earth.

And God shall bring [his] hand upon the host of heaven, and upon the kings of the earth.

22 And they shall be gathered together, as the prisoners in the pit: and they shall be shut vp in the prison, and after many daies shall they be visited.

And they shall gather the multitude thereof into prisons, and they shall shut them into a strong hold: after many generations they shall be visited.

23 Then the moone shall be abashed, and the sunne ashamed, when the Lord of hostes shall reigne in mount Zion and in Ierusalem: and glory shalbe before his ancient men.

And the brick shall decay, and the wall shall fall; for the Lord shall reign from out of Sion, and out of Jerusalem, and shall be glorified before [his] elders.